author

Bryham Kirkby

Best known for preserving the speech of England’s Lake District, this regional writer gathered local words and phrases with a clear love of place. His surviving books offer a vivid glimpse of Cumberland and Westmorland life at the turn of the 20th century.

1 Audiobook

Lakeland Words A Collection of Dialect Words and Phrases as Used in Cumberland and Westmorland, with Illustrative Sentences in the North Westmorland Dialect

Lakeland Words A Collection of Dialect Words and Phrases as Used in Cumberland and Westmorland, with Illustrative Sentences in the North Westmorland Dialect

by Bryham Kirkby

About the author

Bryham Kirkby was an English regional writer associated with Kirkby Stephen and the old counties of Westmorland and Cumberland. He is best known for Lakeland Words (published in 1898), a collection of dialect words and phrases used in the Lake District, with examples in the North Westmorland dialect.

A later work, A Wander-Week in Westmorland (1914), shows the same close interest in local landscape and culture. Together, these books suggest a writer deeply interested in recording the character of his region through its speech, customs, and everyday life.

Reliable biographical detail about Kirkby himself appears to be scarce online, so much of what can be said with confidence comes from his surviving publications rather than from full personal records.